Eve delighted to get off on right foot
Team Muirhead lay down a marker with first-round victory
START as you mean to go on was the approach taken by Eve Muirhead and her curling rink as they opened their bid f or Olympic gold in style.
It did not take Team Muirhead long to register a mark in the win column of the women’s round robin in PyeongChang – just seven ends against the neutral athletes from Russia to be precise. The mood was set from the off as they picked up three points from the opening end and, when their opponents conceded four in the seventh to leave the scoreboard reading 10-3, the game was up as they shook hands with three remaining.
And having admitted to precompetition nerves, there was obvious delight at the marker laid down by Muirhead and her team.
“To get off to a strong start like that at an Olympic Games is fantastic. It was crucial that we did as it’s a long week out here,” said the 27-year-old.
“For us, that stamps our authority down that Team GB are here and we are playing well.
“I’ve always said that if we can get off to a strong start in tournaments like this, it’s crucial. It’s a long week and if you drop games early on, it gives you a bit of a mountain to climb.
“As a team sometimes we don’t make it easy for ourselves but I’m delighted with that performance. We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got another eight round robin games and we’re going to have to stay focused.
“If we perform the way we can perform – winning the European Championships a couple of months back – it gives us a lot of confidence.
“It also gives us confidence that we can play in these highpressure situations. Having a taste of medal success in Sochi, it makes you hungry to get on that podium.”
Muirhead and Co. are not the type to rest on their laurels and you can bet there would have been plenty of postsession debriefing in the athletes’ village last night before today’s games against America and China.
Coach Glenn Howard would have had a heavy input but the Canadian was largely impressed with what he had seen.
“There were a couple of things to improve – we weren’t too sure on a couple of lines – but that’s what you get on the first day,” he said.
“But there is so much experience with this team at a very young age and that is huge coming into an Olympics.
“The girls have done everything they needed to get to this point and now it’s about producing it on the ice.”
The men’s team, meanwhile, led by Kyle Smith and featuring Muirhead’s brother Tom, are all Games newbies – but picked up a maiden win in the morning, seeing off Switzerland 6-5 after a tense final end.
But against Canada,the going was decidedly tougher in the evening.
To their credit, the Brits rallied after a slow start and a steal in the sixth end brought them back to 4-3. But their failure to only pick up a single and not two in the eighth saw Kevin Koe’s Canadians seize back the advantage and they duly saw out the remaining ends to win 6-4.